Continuous mailer assemblies are utilized by businesses for billing and payment collection purposes. A typical continuous mailer assembly may include a plurality of plies, with each ply of the plurality forming a different part of the mailer. For example, one such mailer is known as a two-way insert plysaver mailer. Such a mailer includes five plies through its thickness, with the plies being adhesively or otherwise secured one to another. The top or first ply is known as the fly sheet, the second ply is the face sheet of an outgoing envelope, the third ply is an insert, the fourth ply is the face sheet of a return envelope, and the fifth ply is the back of both the outgoing and return envelopes. The mailer includes pin feed holes in the lateral margins of the mailer for feeding a continuous series of interconnected mailers into a computer driven printer. After being printed, the fly sheet is retained by the business, and the mailer comprised of the second through the fifth plies is mailed to the customer. Upon receipt, the second ply, which is the face sheet of the outgoing envelope, is removed to reveal the insert. The insert is detached from the balance of the mailer, the customer retains a portion of the insert, and the remainder of the insert, known as a remittance stub, is placed between the fourth and fifth plies of the mailer along with payment. The fourth and fifth plies are then sealed to define a secure return envelope, which is then mailed by the customer back to the business.
As mentioned above, these continuous mailer assemblies are printed on computer driven printers. A continuous mailer assembly comprises a plurality of interconnected mailer units, each of which may include the various plies discussed above; alternatively, other types of mailers may be employed. The continuous mailer assembly is typically stacked into an array for feeding into the printer. The interconnected mailer units are folded in zig-zag fashion to form the array. The folded mailer units thus unfold to feed into the printer and then are refolded to form an array after being printed.
A problem associated with such continuous mailer assemblies is that of "tenting" which describes the appearance of the continuous mailer assembly upon unfolding the interconnected mailer units from the stacked array. The continuous mailer assembly resembles a tent, with the apex of the tent being formed at each fold line. Tenting causes the continuous mailer assembly to jam in the printer, which of course is tedious and time consuming to remedy. The problem of tenting is created at least in part by the bulk of the plies at the fold line which are required to be folded.
One solution to the problem of tenting is disclosed in Peschke, U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,352. Peschke discloses completely severing the intermediate plies of a multi-ply, continuous business forms assembly at each cross line of weakening which is folded in order to improve foldability and to alleviate tenting. The intermediate plies may also include transversely aligned notches.
Other solutions are disclosed in Dicker, U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,334; U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,329 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,999. Dicker '334 discloses a mailer assembly in which one ply is completely severed from an adjacent ply. Dicker '329 discloses a mailer assembly wherein adjacent plies are connected only by perforated tear strips at the margins. Dicker '999 discloses a mailer assembly including front and back plies wherein one ply has die cut apertures extending a short distance inwardly from the left and right margins, and the other ply has a long die cut aperture extending between the short apertures so that each mailer is connected to an adjacent mailer by the equivalent of only one ply in order to alleviate tenting.
Prior attempts at eliminating tenting in a continuous mailer assembly have either not met with complete success or have been costly to implement. Specifically, completely severing adjacent plies one from another or only connecting adjacent plies with minimal structure at the margins allows the plies to become unstable as the plies are collated atop one another to form the continuous mailer assembly resulting in manufacturing difficulties which require expensive machinery to alleviate.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a mailer assembly which lies flat after being unfolded from an array which is folded in zig-zag fashion and which does not exhibit tenting and which is economical to manufacture and which, in doing so, does not sacrifice the connection of adjacent plies across their widths.